Ir Abelas, Vhenan
by thisonefeelslikeaflower
Summary: A brief glimpse at the events of the Trespasser DLC. Solas/Lavellan


"I will never forget you."

Rena saw the pained expression on his face for a moment as he hesitated. And then he was turning on his heel, walking back towards the eluvian, his hand stretched forward. Pain still ran like fire through the veins of her left arm, burning even more intensely than before. His fingertips touched lightly on the surface of the mirror; it rippled for a moment and then brightened in a flash. He began to step forward.

"Solas!" Her voice was strained, her throat thick. "Solas, wai-." And then she was screaming, clutching at her wrist. The mark was still glowing, though its green waves of light were pulsing more rapidly now, lashing out erratically with sounds of ripping and electricity. Black spots blotted out her vision as her eyes swam with tears. She felt as if she were being consumed, as if all of the blood in her body was being rushed forward to this one place in the palm of her hand. "Solas," she sobbed out. For a moment she wondered if he had even attempted to save her at all.

And then her fingers began to blacken, turning the color of ash. Magic and darkness swept up the length of her arm, stopping at her elbow. Her fingers started to move more slowly until she felt that she could not move them at all. The painless, horrifying numbness began to engulf her arm. And then she remembered. The bright flash of his eyes as he turned the Vidasala to stone. She remembered all the Qunari, frozen in the clearing, surrounding her. With a hollow crack she watched as her arm fell to the ground. It was the arm of a statue, fingers splayed out, the mark still yawning open.

Rena felt cautiously at the stump of her arm, which ended right above where her elbow had been. The magic had somehow left it cauterized and scarred as if it had been that way for years. The tears flowed freely now over her naked cheeks, her pain gone but not forgotten. Shakily she pushed herself to her feet. Her first steps were timid and weak, and then she was running, running to the eluvian that had already closed up as soon as Solas had stepped through.

She threw herself at its surface, half-expecting that it would allow her through. When that didn't work, she threw spells at it. Spells of opening, spells of calling, spells of raw power. The eluvian remained unfazed, its mottled surface only showing her distorted reflection.

"Please, vhenan," she murmured, voice hoarse. Gently she traced swirling, absent shapes on the eluvian's surface with her only remaining hand. She pressed herself against it, forehead meeting its cold surface. "Not again."

 _On the other side of the eluvian, Solas had his fists clenched and pressing against the mirror's surface. He had seen every minute of the Inquisitor's struggle after he had departed. The eluvians were open to him, and he could see everything that lay on the other side, even as he kept it locked and opaque from her end. But he had watched. Her screams echoed in his pointed ears, the heat of her mouth was a memory on his lips, and her expression of betrayal was painted forever in his mind._

 _He had tried to keep himself composed, for her. He had known this would come, had rehearsed this moment for the two years he'd been apart from her. And now, where he couldn't be seen, he let himself break._

 _Fen'Harel howled. Doubt and longing and love and raw, aching pain sung through every part of his being, echoed in every cell. His fingers raked at the surface of the eluvian, hard enough that his fingers bled. Warm tears flowed from his stone gray eyes. And even while he had the power to open the eluvian, to run forward and take her in his arms and tell her that he had been wrong, he would not allow himself._

 _Cold, hard purpose suddenly rose up within him, dampening the emotions that threatened to destroy him. Thousands of years of purpose were not so easily forgotten. Sadness followed. His face looked pained, resigned._

 _"Ir abelas, vhenan."_

Finally Rena turned to the only eluvian that was still open to her. She wandered through the garden of Qunari statues, their weapons raised and posed to fight. She emerged on the other side to find Dorian pacing anxiously. Cole sat unmoving on a rock. Bull had been traveling with them earlier too, but. She resolved not to think of that, not yet. When they heard her footsteps, they both looked up.

"I found Solas. I found Fen'Harel." Her voice was timid, weak. Her tone implied that they were one and the same. She cared nothing to appear as a strong leader, as the Inquisitor. What had made her Inquisitor in the first place was now gone. It was also, she remembered, a death sentence.

Cole's face was as expressionless as usual. He remained silent. Dorian didn't even seem to be listening to her. Before she had even begun to speak, he was rushing forward to envelope her in his arms. Crushed in the comfort of his robes, she began to cry again, but he only held tighter. Finally her arm moved to wrap around him in return, hugging back with what strength she could manage.

"What has he done to you, Rena?" Dorian's sad black eyes searched her own wet green ones, his fingers coming down to brush at where her left arm ended, his touch gentle. "Did it… work?"

"There's so much to tell. There's so much to prepare for, now-. Dorian, no, it's all _wrong,_ you don't understand what things he has—He didn't even-."

To hush her rambling, Dorian only brought her back in to his embrace, smoothing down her hair. "Shhh. It's okay. There's no rush. It's okay now."

Finally, Cole broke in. "She's _hurting._ If you want me to, I can help." He looked up so that she could see his eyes from under the brim of his hat. "I can help."

Rena tensed and took a step back. She looked exhausted enough to fall over and her cheeks were still wet with tears. Her eyes, however, were hard. "No, Cole. This I cannot forget."

She turned on her heel to regard the eluvian behind her. Her voice carried a number of emotions with it, and her expression looked lost. "I will never forget you."


End file.
